During February, women’s tennis senior and captain, Malin Allgurin, won half of her singles and doubles matches (four singles, four doubles) from the No. 1 spot. Off the court, Allgurin earned similar success as she finished the fall semester with a 4.0 GPA--one of two on the team--positively contributing to her 3.769 cumulative GPA.
“Sometimes I think when people look at her, they’re like be careful of her and it’s just because she cares so much which is kind of refreshing,” said women’s tennis Head Coach Bruce Myers. “If she is down mentally during a match the team is down, the team feeds oaff her…If she’s up high then the team follows suit.”
Allgurin came to Longwood from Värnamo, Sweden, a change she was forced to adjust to as a freshman due to the language and different tennis styles.
Over her career, Allgurin has won 62.5 percent (45-27 record) of her singles matches. Since freshman year, she has always played upper tier competitors. She began at the No. 3 spot, became No. 2 her sophomore year, and has led the team as the No. 1 since her junior year.
“I think there was a huge step between two and one,” said Allgurin. “You always play the best player and you never have an easy match. Even if you play a bad team, I always play a good girl. When I played two and three, I was like, ‘okay, I know I’m going to win today,’ but this season I think I’ve only had maybe one or two games I knew I’d win, all the others have been fifty-fifty or I’ve been the underdog.”
As the lone senior on a team of mainly sophomores, she eagerly took the role of a “player leader” and assisted Myers in his first season.
“She is definitely the player leader, everything goes through her,” said Myers. “She’s good about taking the pulse of the team. Without the benefit of having an assistant coach, she’s kind of like a player-coach.”
Myers described Allgurin as “passionate about tennis and the team” and the amount she cares for the team as being “refreshing,” despite hearing she was going to give him trouble as the new tennis coach and was one to “keep an eye out for.”
Allgurin has the respect of not only her coach, but her teammates as well.
“We were up in the team room on the third floor (of Tabb Hall) and we got up there and the others came up and they took the elevator. Malin (Allgurin) said go all the way downstairs and then walk back up because we don’t take the elevator,” said Myers. “And they did it.”
For Allgurin, while tennis isn’t necessarily a team sport, a player has to find the right balance of team dynamics while focusing on her own match.
“You don’t just play for yourself, you play for everyone on the team and your coach. You want to play well for him, too,” said Allgurin.
Between tennis and school, Allgurin feels she’s managed the balancing act well.
“When I’m studying, I’m studying, when I’m playing, I’m playing,” said Allgurin. “I’ve always done a lot of sports since I was young and done school. It kind of forces you to study when you don’t have practice.”
As a senior, Allgurin will graduate this May and return to Sweden for work. She hopes to find a job she enjoys, possibly working for an international business one day, and finish college maintaining her GPA. Last summer she finished an economics internship in Sweden.
“I know she wants to end with a bang…While she could coast right now, I know she isn’t. And that’s good, you know, you want to end strong,” said Myers.
Allgurin brings the same intensity from the court to her schoolwork. She believes there’s always something she can improve on, even if she earns a win.
“It’s going to be a tough loss to have to send her back to Sweden,” said Myers. “The sad thing is I only got her for a year, I would have loved to see her grow over four years.”
